This invention relates to heat exchangers and more particularly to an improved radial flow heat exchanger in which the fluid to be heated or cooled flows between an outer peripheral portion of the heat exchanger, through a plurality of radially extending tubes, and a center hub, the tubes passing through a fin arrangement.
Various types of heat exchangers are known such as shell in tube heat exchangers and radial flow heat exchangers. In the radial flow heat exchangers of the prior art, fluid flow tubes are arranged in a helical manner with the flow of fluid being in a spiral fashion through the helically formed tubes. Typical of the prior art patents related to radial flow heat exchangers are the following: Kissinger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,423 of 1980; Gilli et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,370 of 1973; Tipman et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,550 of 1992; Borjesson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,125 of 1978; Dobbins et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,117 of 1989, by way of example.
In addition to the above, there are numerous patents dealing with heat exchangers such as those with radial baffles, U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,149; spiral heat exchangers, U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,487; circumferential flow heat exchangers, U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,936; finned tube heat exchangers, U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,944, as an example.
While most of the prior art heat exchangers generally operate satisfactorily for their intended purpose, in some cases, the heat exchanger is of a complex shape, relatively expensive to manufacture, sometimes have a relatively large profile and has an efficiency less than that desired.
Thus, there is a need for an improved radial flow heat exchanger which is relatively easy to manufacture, of a relatively small profile and which operates efficiently.